


Happy run-ins

by joyandlaughter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Apartment AU, F/M, Marauders, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-08 00:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11070132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyandlaughter/pseuds/joyandlaughter
Summary: When Lily Evans and Mary Macdonald move into their new flat together, they don't expect to meet up with a group of boys from their old school, who not only live in the same building as them, but also happen to attend the same university.  James Potter takes this to mean he's been given a second chance for love, since he's not quite over his secondary school crush.  Even though he seems much different than he was in the school days that Lily remembers him from, it's not exactly endearing to have "convenient" run-ins with him all over campus and her flat.





	1. Chapter 1

Lily Evans was quickly learning that moving in the middle of summer was not a good idea. She’d already gone up and down the stairs more times than she could count, or care to keep track of. It was an unusually warm day, and she’d broken out in a sweat. There were still more boxes to bring up to her new flat, and even after that, she had to unpack it all.

“I’ve never been more tired in my life,” Mary Macdonald sighed, leaning against the car. “All I want to do is sit in a chair and drink a cool glass of lemonade.”

“I’m pretty sure the chairs you’re thinking of are folded up and shoved in one of these boxes,” Lily groaned. “When did we get so much stuff?”

“We? More than half of this stuff is yours.”

“Mine? At least three of those boxes in there are just your make-up, hair products, and skin care routine.”

“Hey, you take that back. You say that like we don’t do face masks and tell one another about new skin care products all the time. We share just about all that stuff in those boxes.”

Lily matched Mary’s sigh and leaned against the car. “I know. I’m just so tired of moving boxes and walking up stairs. Why did we decide to move in on the third floor?”

“Because it was the only room open and this building had rent at a decent price in this area for two university birds like us.”

“I hate it, but I know you’re right,” Lily stared at the few remaining boxes. After a minute of silence, she reluctantly forced herself to get off of the car. Despite the layer of sweat coating any exposed skin and the ache in her lower back, Lily still bent over to pick up another box.

“What are you doing? I thought we were taking a break.”

“If I stop and take a break, then I won’t be in the mood to bring anything else up.” Without waiting for a reply, Lily turned and started back to the apartment building and up the staircase again.

Mary hung back for some seconds longer, her bottom lip sticking out as she debated what to do next. But, of course, Mary knew she’d follow after Lily. Although visibly disgruntled, Mary still picked up another box and was quickly only a few steps behind her best friend.

“I’m regretting this already,” Mary whined.

“Let's just get all the boxes up there first,” Lily insisted. “We can start unboxing tomor--hey, watch where you’re going!”

They were halfway up the staircase when a group of loud boys were coming downstairs at the same time, taking up nearly the whole staircase and almost knocking into Lily as she attempted to squeeze past them. 

“I’m sorry about -- wait, Lily? Lily Evans, is that you?” The boy closest to the railing asked. 

“Here, let me help you with that--” The one nearest Lily said, quickly reaching for the box Lily was struggling with. 

“I’ve got it,” She scowled, batting his hand away. Lily pressed the box against the wall, taking off some of the weight. 

“Remus?” Mary called from behind. 

“Mary?”

Finally, Lily turned and realized she recognized one of the boys from school. “Oh, wow! Remus! What are you doing here?”

“We live here, actually. And...It looks like you are too.”

After recognizing Remus, Lily looked at the rest of the boys and realized that she knew them too. James Potter and Sirius Black took the front of the group, and happened to be the ones taking up most of the space. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew tailed behind. 

Lily had been good friends with Remus in their school days. James and Sirius had been impossible to not know. Lily hadn't been particularly close to Peter, but knew he was friends with the rest of the lot. The few times Lily had spoken to him, he seemed friendly enough, even if he was a little shy and awkward.

“All four of you share a flat?” Mary asked. 

“Yeah,” Remus nodded. “Helps save on rent. We just moved in, what, a week ago? It's a good building, though it'd be better if there was a lift.”

“I'd pay extra if they put a lift in this building,” Lily sighed. “I've lost track of how many trips up these stairs I've taken.”

“You girlies need some help with the rest of your stuff?” Sirius asked. 

Lily looked to Sirius and James, remembering how she’d disliked them in school. 

“I think--” She began, but was quickly interrupted. 

“We’d love some help,” Mary but in, handing off her box to Sirius.

“I've got this one, Lily insisted as soon as she noticed James hold out his hand. 

“Don't worry, we’ve got a few more down in the car,” Mary said instead. “Lily can lead you up to the flat.” And with that, Mary went back down the stairs with three boys in tow. 

Lily sighed. She stared at Sirius, who flashed her a glowing smile that Lily was certain he’d used on plenty of girls back when they were sixteen. 

“C’mon,” Lily motioned for him to follow her. “We’re up on the third floor.”

They’d left their apartment door cracked open so when they came back with arms full of boxes, they didn't have to try and get the door open. Instead, Lily just nudged it with her foot. 

“Just set that down on this table,” She instructed, doing the same with her own box. 

“Are you going to pretend you don't remember me, or do you really not remember me?” Sirius asked. 

Lily ignored the question. Instead, she looked at the writing on top of the two boxes. “You can put this one in that room over there.”

Sirius picked up the box again, but didn't move. “Are you kidding me, Evans? I’ve been told that I have a forgetful face,”

It seemed that Sirius hadn’t changed much since school. Typical. As much as Lily wanted to not indulge into Sirius’ wishes, she knew all too well that he wouldn’t stop until she gave in. She leaned against the table and gave Sirius an annoyed look. “Sirius Black. Best friend to James Potter. Known for his great hair and cheeky grin. Probably had detention more times than he can count, and called Mrs. McGonagall by her first name.”

“So you do remember me,” He said with that infamous cheeky grin. Still, he picked up the box and took it into the room that Lily had pointed to earlier.

Lily rolled her eyes and wished that Mary had come back already. She slid her box back off the table and headed to the other end of her new flat. Out of the window, Mary was back at their car, pointing out the last few of their boxes. Despite the fact that she was on the third floor, Lily could easily pick apart the boys. James seemed to be struggling with the weight of his boxes, taking careful steps back towards the staircase, but it didn’t seem that he’d asked anyone for help. Although Remus appeared to have taken one of the less heavy boxes, he was faster than James and made it back to the building before anyone else. Peter didn’t seem to have taken any of the boxes. From where Lily stood, it looked like he was carrying a few of the extra bags that she and Mary had left in the car. 

Mary pulled out one more box from the trunk and then locked the door. She too was on her way back up.

Lily set the box down in what was going to be her new living room. It felt more like a maze of cardboard boxes than a place where they’d actually live. 

Remus was the first one back into the flat, followed by Peter, then Mary, and James taking up the end. James was practically out of breath when he asked where the boxes needed to go, but Lily didn’t hear him complain once.

“You two sure do have a lot of stuff,” Sirius noted, waiting in the small kitchen for the rest of his friends.

“This is what happens when you move, you know. You put your many things in boxes and bring them with you,” Lily muttered as she moved to help Peter with his arms full of various bags. “Just set them down here, and Mary and I can sort through them later,” She instructed and took about half of them out of Peter’s arm.

“Do you guys need any help unpacking?” James asked, reappearing in the doorway, his arms now free of cardboard boxes. “There’s four of us and two of you, and I’m sure with five of us together, it’d make everything go by faster.

“Thanks for the help, but I think Lily and I have it from here,” Mary nodded. She followed Remus back towards the front door.

“Yeah,” Lily nodded in agreement. “Besides, we’ve been moving all day. We probably won’t even start unpacking until tomorrow.”

“Right now I’m more in the mood to get something to eat and take a nap,” Mary nodded.

“We could order some pizza or take-out?” James suggested instead. “Or even just show up tomorrow to help you unpack.

“I’ve got work tomorrow that I can’t get out of,” Remus said, giving James a strange look.

“Me too,” Peter chimed.

“And you and I already have lunch plans,” Sirius scowled and crossed his arms as he joined everyone else from the kitchen.

“Oh, bugger off. You know how long it took us to move in, and there’s four of us.” James said.

“You say that as if we’ve finished unpacking,” Remus turned to look at Mary and Lily as he continued. “We have an entire table that we can’t even eat at yet because it’s piled high with stuff.”

“My point exactly. We’ve obviously had trouble putting away our own things, so two people trying to unpack would probably be even more difficult. I’m sure you two can take a day off of work to help, and Sirius we can always reschedule --”

“Really, James,” Mary interjected. “It’s fine, we’ve got it.”

James didn’t seem to like that idea too much, but it also seemed that he’d run out of good excuses.

“Thank you guys for helping us bring up our last few things. Really, it was a big help, and maybe we’ll pay you back by ordering pizza for you some night, but I think, for now, Lily and I just want to relax. I guess we’ll see you around the building.”

Remus, at least, seemed to get what Mary was trying to say, and reached for the door. Peter gave Sirius and James a glance, but hurried after Remus. James, on the other hand, looked as if he had a few more things he wanted to say. Had it not been for Sirius, who practically pulled him out of the door, Lily had the feeling that James would’ve come up with some sort of excuse to stay in their flat for a while longer.

With the boys now gone, Lily and Mary shared a look.

“What was that all about?” Lily asked. “I remember James Potter from school, and that was definitely not him.”

“If I knew then I’d tell you,” Mary shrugged.

Outside of the girls’ flat, Sirius smacked James’ arm.

“Hey, what the hell was that for?” He demanded, rubbing his stinging skin.

“What the hell was that for? What the hell’s wrong with you? Telling Remus and Pete to just take a day off, saying we can reschedule our lunch plans,” Sirius said, his scowl still apparent. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve still got that thing for Evans.”

“Fuck off.”

Although they didn’t say anything, Remus and Peter shared a knowing grin as they began to take the stairs two at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my very first fic on ao3 !!!! I really hope that it turned out well, and in all honestly, I'm not sure if I'll continue unless people take an interest in this. I know the first chapter is a little boring, but I'm pretty sure things will pick up soon? It's been forever since I've written a fic of any kind, and this is the first time I've ever written an hp fic. If I do decide to continue writing this, I'll update tags with other pairings/characters that come in. At the moment I don't really have plans for any significant ones, but who knows what'll happen in the future ??
> 
> I love questions and comments and you can direct anything you'd like me to personally answer on my tumblr @daisyquakingjohnson


	2. Chapter 2

Even though it had been quite some time since James had seen a particular red-haired girl, he’d still thought about her on many occasions. What she was doing. What her major was. If she ever thought about him. What she wanted to do with her life. Why she hadn’t friended him on facebook. Who she was dating.

Despite those thoughts, James didn’t actually expect to run into her again. At least, not until their ten year reunion when they were twenty-eight and she already had a successful job with two smiling kids and a good wealthy husband who wasn’t James Potter.

By some impossibility, she was still here. In the same building, in the flat next to his, no less. He wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t mentioned that to her when he was helping bring boxes up to her flat.

Ever since then, James had been trying to come up with some sort of excuse to go over to their flat again.

“You know, why don't people bake biscuits for their neighbor's anymore?” James asked. He entered the kitchen and began frantically searching for ingredients, pulling out food from cabinets in an attempt to find something that would go in a biscuit recipe.

“Do you even know how to make biscuits?” Sirius asked from the living room couch. 

It suddenly dawned on James that he didn’t, in fact, know how to make biscuits. 

“Remus, let me use your lapt--”

“I’m busy,” Remus mumbled from next to Sirius. He didn't lift his head as he spoke. 

“C’mon, mate, don't you think we need to be a little more neighborly? If we bake biscuits for some of our new neighbors --”

“-- A certain red haired neighbor,” Sirius butted in. 

James ignored him. “Then we could be seen as the ‘cool flat’, and when we have a raging party after quiet hours, the landlord will remember that time we baked him biscuits and be a little more forgiving. What are you so busy doing, anyway, that you can't let me use your computer for five minutes to look up a recipe?”

Thanks to his long legs, it took James about three steps to get from the kitchen to the living room couch where Remus and Sirius sat. James wasn't quite sure what he expected, but when he saw a compilation video of a bunch of kids skateboarding and failing, he wasn't quite sure what else he would've expected. 

“That's why you're busy? Watching a video of a bunch of kids that don't know what you're doing?”

“There are some adults too,” Remus said, still not looking up. “If you want to find a recipe so bad, just use your phone.”

But by then, James had lost interest in the idea. “I don't think we have the right ingredients, anyway,” He sighed and sat down on the couch as well, leaving Remus between himself and Sirius. 

“If you want to go over there and talk to her so bad, why don't you?” Peter asked from the single armchair. 

Sirius let out a laugh. “Pete, buddy, I love you, but that's now how things like this work.”

“Unless he has an excuse to go talk to her, he’ll stand at her doorway without saying anything and she’ll think he’s an idiot,” Remus added. 

“I would not--” James defended, but was interrupted by Remus’ daring stare. 

“If you wouldn't, then go over there right now and knock on her door.”

James challenged Remus’ stare for a moment, but his friend had a point. When it came to Lily Evans, James’ mind simply didn’t work. 

“I can't believe I’m being ganged up on in my own flat,” James sighed as he broke eye contact with Remus and forced himself to stand instead.

“I still can't believe you haven't gotten over your crush on a girl from primary school,” Sirius laughed. 

James ignored both him and Peter, who looked like he was trying to catch James’ eye. Instead, he made a beeline to the door. 

“Where are you going?” Peter asked. 

“Fresh air.”

Although this was a nice building, James was starting to get tired of having to go down three flights of stairs every time he wanted to go outside or for a walk, or to just get out of the building. 

At least he got to live in a place with his mates. James wouldn't know what to do without any of them. Even when they drove him mad, especially when Sirius drove him mad, James was still glad to have them around. 

Maybe Sirius did have a point; it was a little strange that James hadn’t gotten over his primary school crush, especially since he hadn’t seen Evans in the past two years. It wasn’t like James hadn’t tried to, of course. He’d tried dating a few other girls. Sure, he’d liked them enough at the time, but they had only lasted a handful of months before James, for whatever reason, felt like he was losing interest.

Lily Evans had been the one that got away. Even if Sirius had a point, maybe this was James’ second chance. That is, of course, if James could come up with a valid excuse to run into her again so he wouldn't knock on her door and make a fool of himself. 

He at least wanted another chance to talk to her. Yesterday they’d seemed so busy with getting everything into their new flat, which is probably why she hadn't seemed too interested in talking to him. James figured she’d be in her flat for most of the day unpacking. 

By the time James realized that he had an idea, a decent excuse for talking to Lily again, he had unconsciously climbed all of the stairs already and was approaching her door. 

It was Mary, actually, who opened the door. For some reason, James hadn't even considered that as a possibility, even though he knew that the two girls were living with one another. 

“Oh, James, what’re you doing here?” She asked, leaning against the door frame. 

James was wishing for that plate of biscuits right about now. Despite the fact that he felt incredibly awkward, James was pretty good at covering up his emotions with a calm and collected exterior. 

“Hey, Mary,” He said and offered her a smile while pretending he wasn't trying to look for Lily from behind Mary’s shoulder. “I figured you guys would be unpacking for most of the day. Since my afternoon is open...I thought I’d offer my help.”

Mary grinned as she looked up at James. “Just give me a sec, yeah?”

She moved to close the door, leaving it open just a crack and disappeared behind it. 

From the hallway, James could hear mumbles of conversation. He’d taken a sudden interest in the old wooden flooring by the time Mary returned to the door. 

“Lily’s a bit grumpy,” Mary revealed. “But I’d be more than happy to accept your help.”

Without skipping a beat, Mary opened the door open wide and gestured for James to join them. 

This wasn't exactly what James had in mind. He was going to help Lily unpack, maybe talk about school a bit, suggesting that they go out to lunch sometime before leaving. 

“Actually, let me go get Remus and Sirius and Peter,” James quickly said. “I’m sure having a few more people help unpack will get everything done faster.”

Mary raised her brows as she looked at James. She hesitated before speaking, but eventually shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Just come back over when you all are ready. The door’ll be open, you know where to find us.”

James thanked her and waited for Mary to turn her back for him to scramble back into his own flat. 

“You lot aren’t doing anything productive right now, are you?”

Peter was the only one to look up. As soon as he saw James’ face, he nudged Sirius in the side. He looked annoyed at first, but he he quickly noticed James as well, and kicked Remus’ shin. Remus was about to protest, but his eyes darted to James, along with everyone else.

“Mate, what the hell’s going on?” Remus asked.

“You’re not busy right now, are you?” James repeated.

Remus glanced to Sirius and Peter, both who seemed a little unsure as to what was was going on with James. He looked as if he was a mixture of being out of breath, embarrassed, and determined, all mixed into one strange facial expression, which left Remus, Sirius, and Peter incredibly confused.  
“No, we’re not busy right now. What’s going on?” Remus said with some hesitation.

“Come with me.”

Remus, Sirius, and Peter shared another confused look again. Although they had no idea what was going on with James, or where he may be taking them, the three of them still stood in unison and followed after him one by one.

Luckily for them, they were only walking to the flat right next door. Remus was the first to realize where they were going. He closed his eyes and let out a reluctant sigh, but still followed after James regardless. Sirius was the second to realize, but by the time he put two-and-two together, it was too late.

“Oh no, you’re trying to rope me into helping Evans and MacDonald unpack. Well, sorry, mate, but I don’t feel like spending my afternoon unpacking for two girlies. Especially since I’ve only halfway unpacked my own things,” Sirius said under his breath even though he was already in the apartment.

James didn’t even look back at Sirius. Instead, he stood a little awkwardly behind Mary. He cleared his throat before he began to speak. “I brought the lads back with me for a few extra hands.”

“Thanks!” Mary beamed. “You guys can start in the kitchen, if you’d like. That’s where the dishes are at, so the boxes are heavier.”

James practically jumped at the opportunity to help put things away. He managed to catch Sirius’ eye and saw that he wasn’t very happy. James knew all too well that he was going to have to pay Sirius back for this in the future. But he was hoping that today would pay off. His biggest goal was to talk to Evans alone for a bit. Even if he didn’t get a chance to he hoped that he at least could get on good terms with Mary.

Unfortunately for James, his chances to talk to Lily seemed slim to none. Not only was he was stuck on kitchen duty, but she was yet to make an appearance from what James assumed to be her room.

“What the hell did you get me into?” Remus demanded under his breath. He scowled at James as he took plates out of a box and handed them to Remus, who was gently putting them away in a cabinet.

Next to them, James was doing the same with Peter, except they were putting away cups.

“Shove off,” James grumbled back.

“Evans isn’t even out here. Putting away cups and plates isn’t how you make your first impression. If you want to talk to her, just go into her room and talk to her.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Then you’re an idiot. Fine.” Sirius handed one more plate to Remus and stepped away quietly. He looked in Mary’s direction, who had her back to them. Certain that she wouldn’t quickly turn around, Sirius continued on as quiet as possible. He wound up slipping a hand into one of the boxes close to Lily’s door that definitely wasn’t labeled ‘kitchen ware’. James mouthed a few distressed words at Sirius, but Sirius was too preoccupied to notice or care.

“Hey, Mary?” Sirius then called after pulling his hand out of the box. He was now holding a picture frame. “This was in the box with all the plates and I don’t think it goes in the kitchen.”

“Huh,” Mary noted after she came over and looked at the picture in Sirius’ hands. “I have no clue how that got in there. Lily made sure everything went in the right box so nothing got lost in our move…” She gave Sirius a suspicious look, which was also shared with James, Remus, and Peter, who were staring curiously from the kitchen.

“Accidents happen?” Sirius offered.

“Maybe. Anyway, this is definitely Lily’s picture -- you should go see where she wants it.”

“Okay, I’ll go give it to her.” Sirius said. Once Mary turned back to what she was doing, Sirius looked behind himself and shot James a mischievous grin.

“Wait!” James interjected, earning him a strange look from Mary. “Sirius, you should keep helping out Remus. There’s…a lot of plates that should be put away. Peter, I’m sure you’ve got a handle on those cups?”

“Uh…” Peter hesitated.

“Perfect. Sirius, if you will then…” James said. Now standing next to Sirius, James motioned for Sirius to hand over the picture frame. James had a happy, smug look on his face. Still, Sirius gave the picture to James and returned back to the kitchen with Remus and Peter.

Mary pointed to Lily’s door, which James now noticed was open just a crack. He knocked on it softly first, but didn’t hear any response or movement from the other side. James looked back to Mary, who seemed to not particularly care what James was doing that much. Unsure what else to do, he nudged the door open with his foot and stuck his head in.

Admittedly, James wasn’t sure what he was expecting in regards to Lily’s bedroom.

The walls were a simple white. The mattress that sat in the middle of the room was without any sheets or blankets. There was an older looking dresser, though, with small white flowers painted on it. Pictures were already hung up all over the walls and slid into the corner of the large mirror that was on the wall behind the dresser. Lily didn’t seem to have gotten too far with unpacking her room. Boxes were still stacked in every direction, even on top of a comfortable looking chair in the corner that James didn’t even notice at first.

“What are you doing in here?” A voice snapped.

James whirled around to find that Lily had been standing behind him after coming out of seemingly nowhere.

“What the hell?” James breathed. “Where did you come from?”

“It’s my room. You’re the one that’s intruding.”

“You’re the one that came out of nowhere.”

“You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing in here? Are you supposed to be out there helping Mary? I said I didn’t need any help putting my stuff away.”

“All the boxes around here say otherwise…” James muttered.

“What was that?”

“I -- I -- Sirius,” James began, earning him a confused look from Lily. “Sirius found this in one of the boxes in the kitchen and Mary said it was yours and I offered to bring it to you and you didn’t answer your door when I knocked and I --”

“Okay, I get it,” Lily scowled and took the picture from James. “I swear, I didn’t put this with the kitchen stuff. It should be with a few of my other things, in those boxes right outside.”

“Accidents happen?” James repeated Sirius’ words.

“I guess so…” Lily mumbled, though she didn’t appear to question it any further. Her face transformed from a confused and irritated scowl to a more sad and sentimental one. Even though she was smiling, her eyes still had a sad look at them.

His curiosity getting the better of him, James let his eyes take a closer look at the picture. There was a girl with ginger hair that was obviously a younger version of Lily. She was sitting on a thick tree branch with a book in hand. Beneath her was a petite blonde girl with very angular features. She was dressed fairly plainly, and the faintest of smiles on her face.

Against his better judgment, James asked, “Who’s that?”

Lily’s own smile disappeared at James’ question. “My sister.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“She’s about two years older than me, so it’s not that surprising that you didn’t know her in school.”

“You don’t get along or something?”

Lily didn’t answer. Instead she rested the picture on the dresser at the end of a row of other pictures. Instead, she asked her own question. “What do you want, Potter?”

“I...just wanted to give you back that photograph.”

Lily gave him a knowing look.

“I...It’s just been a while since we were in school together. Since we’re going to be neighbors now, I thought it’d be nice for us to catch up again.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Lily laughed.

“What?”

Lily crossed her arms, and that scowl was back on her face. “You were a prick in school. A prick and a bully. At least you were whenever you were around Sirius. I saw the way you would treat those shrimpy kids that couldn’t defend themselves. And you were always talking back to the professors, making a big deal out of little things in order to waste more time. You walked around like you and your mates were the only people that mattered. Well, James Potter, you should know that not only were you not the only person in school, but some of us actually wanted to learn. You were nothing more than an arrogant toe rag who loved attention, and based on your sudden interest in helping me and Mary move in so one of us can give you more attention...well...it seems to me that you haven’t changed much since then, and I can’t say that I’m too surprised.”

James stared at Lily with his mouth hanging open slightly. Absolutely no words came out in response. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to go off like that.

“And you can’t even deny it, can you?” Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head. She turned her back to James, suddenly becoming very interested on the trinkets on her dresser. “Get out.”

Nodding awkwardly, James’ hand reached for the door. “You know, you’re not exactly right,” He said in a low voice. “I’ve changed a lot from Primary school. I’ll admit, I was a prick back then. But I’m not a sixteen-year-old anymore,”

“I have a hard time believing that,” Lily scoffed.

“Well,” James smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you.”

Then, James left. Without saying anything, and avoiding everyone’s gaze in the process, he returned to the kitchen and continued helping Peter put away the cups. He’d been out there for less than a minute when Lily pulled her door wide open and practically stomped towards the kitchen.

“I think Mary and I have everything handled. Thanks for your help, but we’ve got it from here.”

“Okay,” Was James’ reply. “We’ll see you around the building.” Again, he flashed her a smile, but he left the flat without further argument. Remus, Sirius, and Peter seemed surprised at James’ reaction, but they still followed behind him.

“I’m...sorry about him,” Remus offered with a sigh. “He’s not usually like this.” He gave Lily a sympathetic look, but eventually followed after James as well.

The two girls now alone, Lily began absently looking through one of the boxes stacked next to her bedroom.

“What was that all about?” Mary asked, kneeling on the couch so she could be closer to Lily as they spoke.

“Potter is what that was all about. He’s so...infuriating. You know how he was in school.”

“An absolute prick yeah. I’m pretty sure that was the most common way you described him.” Mary nodded.

“I can’t believe we have to be neighbors with him and Sirius. Remus and Peter, I don’t mind as much. But Potter...he knows just how to get under my skin.”

Mary continued nodding. “I saw the way he looked at you, though. I doubt it’ll be the last time we see him, especially since he’s in the same building with us.

Lily rested her face on one of the couch’s pillows. “Just our luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took a little while to come out, but I wasn't too sure how I wanted this chapter to go at first. I feel like things are still going slow, but I know there's going to be some drama-stuff happening in later chapters. I just kinda want to start off by setting the stage, I guess? It's also been a while since I've written any fanfiction, so I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.
> 
> Also, thank you, everyone, that left kudos or comments!! You can also ask me anything over at my tumblr, @daisyquakingjohnson


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